The Early Beatles

The Early Beatles is the Beatles' sixth release on Capitol Records, and their seventh album for the American market, released in mono (catalogue number T 2309) and stereo (ST 2309). The album resembles more of an early compilation because all of the tracks had previously been featured on the early 1964 Vee-Jay release Introducing... The Beatles. The front cover photo for this album is the same as the back cover photo for the British LP Beatles for Sale. This album is available on compact disc as part of The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 box set (catalogue number CDP 0946 3 57498 2 3.) and The US Albums box set.

Vee-Jay had gained American rights to the tracks before the group became popular in America (because Capitol, the US division of EMI which owns The Beatles' record label Parlophone, had refused to release the group's records), and their releases had initially failed to chart. But after the group became popular, Vee-Jay, still having the rights to the early material, were able to re-release them in America and this time the records sold in the millions. Capitol tried to stop Vee Jay from releasing the tracks, but were not successful. But by 1965, Capitol was finally able to get the American distribution rights from Vee-Jay, who had decided to return to their core business of selling R&B records.

Though Vee-Jay had compiled four Beatles albums from these sessions (all of which charted), when released on Capitol, the album still sold and charted inside the top 50.